The Crimson Snow (A Realm of Chaos and Void #1)

Chapter 24

The Soulless Fox

There was a song I once loved,

A haunting melody of two beings from different worlds.

I thought it was sad and twisted,

But something was missing, a piece left untold.

The story wasn’t complete,

For she had indeed become part of a tale,

A tale she never intended to be written into,

A destiny she never sought to claim as her own.

Retrieved from The Mad Love Story of The Haunted

by Illyra Everdawn, Ch. 1, p. 5.

Seraphine Ashcroft

She is burning,”

a familiar voice said, and then she felt something wet and cold against her neck and head.

Where am I? All she could see was blackness around her. She felt a brief touch on her cheek.

“What happened? You can barely stand on your own,”

another voice said, ethereal and female, familiar but not as pleasing as the first one.

There was silence until the male voice spoke again. “She took its soul.”

More silence.

“No, that is not accurate. She fed on its soul,”

the male voice corrected.

Seraphine felt off. Her memories were a haze of gray eyes and sharp teeth.

“That is not possible. She is not a soul eater. Don’t you have eyes to recognize the difference between a human and a soul eater?”

the ethereal voice replied ironically and almost angrily.

The male sighed. “Of course, she is not a soul eater, Theodorah. I suggest you refrain from such offensive remarks. Now, I wish I had no eyes so I could avoid seeing you,”

the pleasant voice remarked while the other laughed.

“I would gladly take those off your face if you so desire to avoid my presence.”

There was a brief pause, and Seraphine could swear that whoever was talking was smiling now. “Prince.”

Her head hurt, and a voice echoed in her mind.

“Tell her, ‘prince.’ Tell her that Malvrek, your father, is looking for his remaining son.”

She had heard that before but could not place where or when. She could barely remember her name.

There were whispers, but she could not make out whatever the voices were saying.

“I’ll send him a letter,”

the male voice said again. “Maybe he knows something.”

“Ah, the smart one,”

the ethereal voice said again, and she felt something cold on her head once more. Seraphine sighed in relief.

“For Nemera’s sake, Theodorah! Can you just stop? You are partially the reason why we are in this mess,”

the male voice said, a little frustrated.

The ethereal voice laughed, sharpness and pure hatred emanating from her. “I did what I could. I kept her alive.”

“Barely.”

“You are one to talk,”

she countered, and Seraphine felt something sharp piercing her skin. She felt dizzy, and her mind began to shut down, slowly drifting from the conversation. “Weren’t you the one who killed her in the first place?”

Seraphine felt something soft against her skin, like the gentle caress of feathers. Warmth surrounded her, seeping into her bones.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and stretched languidly, much like a cat awakening from a nap. Then, she suddenly remembered Scarlet. Seraphine closed her eyes, berating herself internally for forgetting her poor little companion.

She cast a look around and realized this wasn’t her room. Sitting up slightly, she noticed she was alone, not in her familiar quarters at the Mystweave Library, but in Evren’s room.

What is happening?

Then, it all came rushing back—fleeing from the library, falling asleep under a tree, the soul eaters that had tried to kill her, and Evren becoming badly wounded. Without any rational thought, she had jumped to help him.

A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered what had happened afterward. Or what she thought had occurred. Maybe she was delirious, her memories fractured and incomplete. However, something told her that wasn’t the case.

She couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it had been some kind of unknown hunger, a primal need to touch the soul eater. After she did, she felt warm and lost, like she could reach out to the night sky and touch a star.

Then, everything blackened.

Seraphine looked at her hands, looking for scratches, but they were clean. She touched her neck and head. No pain. She seemed completely unharmed, which was impossible. She vividly remembered one of the soul eaters pushing her head down, the sight of her own blood everywhere.

And Evren... How could he have survived his terrible injuries? He could heal easily, but he had lost too much blood. The thought sent a jolt of pain through her body. She should never have said those things to him, and seeing that she was all alone, she felt the worst had happened. How did I end up here? She was unsure, but her heart ached.

“I am so sorry,”

she muttered to no one, burying her head in her hands.

“You should be.”

Startled, she raised her head and saw Evren in the corner of the room. His hair was a disheveled mess, and bandages were wrapped around his waist. Yet, he was striking regal, the very embodiment of power.

Thank the Ancients.

“You’re alive,”

she said slowly, carefully controlling her expression. She must remain calm. Right now, she was prey under the watchful eyes of a skilled hunter, a dangerous being. However, she had been too blind to piece things together, to ask the right questions.

Evren huffed and rose from the chair, moving toward her with the slow, deliberate grace of a wolf stalking its prey. He sat at the corner of the bed, still keeping some distance between them. “You sound disappointed, Crimson Eyes. Would you prefer it if I were dead?”

he asked, his unearthly eyes—gray with cascades of snow—piercing into hers.

His death would have meant her freedom, but she still felt a strange sense of relief knowing he was alive. “No, I wouldn’t. But I guess your father doesn’t share my beliefs, isn’t that right, prince?”

she said, and he flinched. She pressed on, anger flashing in her eyes, “How long were you planning to hide the fact that you are possibly the only living heir of the Otherworld?”

“Seraphine...”

“I want to rest,”

she said, though rest was the last thing on her mind.

Evren had promised her the truth, and this seemed like something she deserved to know. Their quest to break the curse had been doomed from the start, and he let her believe there was a way out. A hope for freedom. She had been so naive.

He moved closer but paused, noticing how she seemed on the verge of fleeing. “Look...”

He closed his eyes briefly, collecting himself. “There is a reason why I—”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Fine, but there is something we need to discuss,”

he said, his snowy eyes locking onto her bloody ones.

“I don’t—”

Evren cut her off. “How in the realms were you able to kill a soul eater by feeding on its soul, Seraphine?”

Memories of her draining the soul eater flooded back. The warmth she sensed had come from a soul. That was why she now felt so filled. She had devoured the soul of a creature meant to take souls. And I enjoyed it. She had wanted it.

Minutes passed, and Seraphine still couldn’t breathe—couldn’t think. Evren had been talking, trying to calm her, but her mind was in other realms.

I have killed.

The soul eater would’ve probably killed her, but she had enjoyed it.

If that were to happen again, would I kill someone else and drain their soul without noticing?

She was getting sick. This was a nightmare.

I am worse than a monster.

“Crimson Eyes, please just breathe,”

Evren said, but she couldn’t focus. Everything was a blur, and there was no escape. She felt him pulling her toward him, and she pushed him away.

“No, do not get close to me! Ever!”

Seraphine screamed. She had always been proud of not being a killer, never the monster they pictured in the human world, but now she could hurt him or anyone else who got close to her.

Still, she could never do that to him. She cared too much. Seraphine flinched at that. Despite everything that happened, I…

“Fine! I won’t, but I do need you to take a big gulp of air. Otherwise, you might pass out, and I cannot afford that. No one is going to touch you. We will figure this out, and yes, there are plenty of things wrong with us and this situation, but just breathe,”

he said, concerned, his eyes stormy.

Probably a facade.

Still, she closed her eyes and started to breathe slowly. This was not the time to lose control.

“That is good,”

Evren said, helping by counting and breathing alongside her.

When she felt like herself, she muttered, “Something is wrong with me. My heart feels cold, but it is beating faster than usual. I am feeling, Evren. Emotions that I should not be. I actually think I am feeling even more than I used to. Shouldn’t I be voided and cold? Perhaps the deal went wrong and turned me into this? I am afraid.”

There, she said it, what had been bubbling for days, the source of her anger. Fear. “And that thing I did…”

She couldn’t finish the thought.

Evren moved away from her, and her heart cracked.

“Seraphine, there is something I did not mention to you, and I think that might explain why you are feeling after our deal,”

he said carefully, and that just increased her fear. “But the other part? That is something I have no answer for, but we shall find them together. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up having some…”

He looked aside. “Type of far relative that possessed that kind of trait.”

She huffed at him. “I am not even surprised about you holding back information again.”

However, she was also curious. “What kind of creature was in possession of that terrible trait?”

“Well… A soul eater is similar—”

“I’m not a soul eater, Evren.”

“What I was trying to say here is that soul eaters were created by creatures that possessed that trait long ago, so maybe it’s a distant relative of those.”

Evren was pacing around his room, looking at the books and somehow trying to piece everything together.

“And those relatives are…”

Seraphine pushed because she felt like Evren was omitting information.

Like he always does.

“I do not know the name of those, Seraphine,”

he said, still avoiding looking at her.

“But you know something,”

she said, standing up and crossing the room. She moved in front of him, far enough to ensure he wouldn’t be harmed by her but close enough so Evren would not be able to avoid her gaze. “Tell me.”

He looked troubled, as if whatever he was thinking was pure chaos, and his eyes—those snowflakes of his—were swirling in a frenzy. “The only creatures that possessed something like that, that ability, are from the Underworld.”